In mid-May 2005, the police
started demolishing what they described as "illegal structures" mostly in high
density suburbs and informal settlements around Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.
The operation within no time spread like wildfire to other towns, growth points,
service centres and some shops in the rural areas were also demolished in the
process.

Initially no one was quite clear what the operation, now described as a
"tsunami", was meant to achieve. The government alleged it was to rid Zimbabwean
cities of illegal structures and combat the rising crime rate. The exercise
continued, leaving families living rough during Zimbabwe's winter, from June to
September where temperatures regularly drop to 5 degrees Celsius. Families were
not even allowed to put up tents as these were also dubbed illegal structures by
the authorities.

In July 2005 the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, sent special
envoy Ms Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat as his
Special Envoy for Human Settlement Issues to Zimbabwe to study the situation and
compile a report detailing what was going on. Her report alleged that as many as
700,000 families were made homeless, a figure described as excessive by the
Zimbabwean government.

In response to Ms Kajumulo Tibaijuka's findings, the Government changed the
operation's name from "Restore Order" to "Live Well". Houses building began in
some areas where people had once lived "illegally". Government spokespersons
claimed that the illegal structures were been destroyed so as to improve the
quality of available housing. The new homeless were asked to go back to their
rural homes or to register to be allocated newly built housing and small shops.
However, even though people were being registered and names of beneficiaries
were appearing in newspapers, these were said to be mainly members of the
police, army and state security. Ordinary people complained of being ignored,
after having been promised housing and small shops. Everybody wondered why the
new housing had not been built before the "illegal structures" were demolished.

In cooperation with the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishop's of Southern Africa
(IMBISA), Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice (CCJP), and Catholic
Development Commission (CADEC National), JRS Zimbabwe decided to provide
assistance to displaced families living in Epworth, 50 kilometres southeast of
Harare. Many families had settled in this area after the war of independence in
the 1970's. They had fled the violence and insecurity of rural Zimbabwe. After
the war, these people never returned to their rural homes preferring to remain
in Epworth.

Individuals were trained to collect data from those whose houses had been
demolished. Information was gathered on family size, current residency and
former residence, former occupation and type of assistance required. All those
interviewed indicated a need of shelter, blankets and food. About 10% of the
close to 4,000 people indicated their desire to return to their former rural
residences and requested financial support to do so.

With assistance from the International Organisation for Migration and the
Islamic Society, trucks were hired to move willing families to their rural homes
and each family was given two blankets, mealie meal (corn based food) and
cooking oil. Most of these families previously ran small commercial outlets.
However, the authorities were by now arresting and fining anyone found trading
with a permit while their merchandise were being confiscated. Although short
term, i.e. June, July and August, the assistance went a long way in bringing
relief to these people.

Many accepted that something needed to be done to improve the quality of
housing in urban areas. Nevertheless, they were incensed that no warning was
given before the demolition took place, despite the existence of a law requiring
three months' notice be given. Now, five months after the beginning of the
operation, families are still living rough and children have been born homeless.
Many of these people say they have no rural homes to go to. Some who have gone
to the rural areas are finding life there very hard, as it is difficult for them
to get food. This year's harvest in Zimbabwe was very poor and many rural
dwellers are need of food aid. In fact some of them have returned to the cities
even though they have no homes there.

Those who are happy to remain rural areas at the very least will require seed
packs so that they can grow their own food. The majority who have remained in
urban areas still need shelter and assistance to start their own small
businesses. Most are unable to pay their children's school fees which the
Ministry of Education recently increased a thousand fold.

In response to their desperate plight JRS contacted the Epworth authorities
to find out what plans they have provide shelter and assistance for the 15,000
who find themselves homeless. The authorities outlined its intention to build
100 houses for some of the homeless people. They also have plans to build 1,000
small shops and sell these to some of the affected people. However it was
disheartening to be told that the authorities have only raised Z$200million, a
little less than 6,700 Euro, for this purpose. It is also difficult to begin
thinking of providing these people with means of starting income generating
projects when they have nowhere to stay.

Zimbabwe, China continue to strengthen cooperation

People's Daily

Zimbabwe and China will continue to strengthen the friendly bilateral
relations that have existed since the birth of Zimbabwe, Deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister Obert Matshalaga said on Thursday in Harare. At the reception to
mark the national day of China, the deputy minister said Zimbabwe noted with
great satisfaction that the relations between the two friendly countries were
deepening, strengthening and broadening as demonstrated by the recent visit to
China by President Robert Mugabe and as evidenced by the increased level of
cooperation politically and in key sectors of Zimbabwe's economy. Matshalaga
said Zimbabwe would look forward to the consolidation of these excellent
relations and the exploration of more opportunities of cooperation for the
mutual benefit of both countries and peoples in areas such as trade, technology
transfer and investment. Matshalaga added that the two countries enjoy
profound ties that date back to the days of liberation struggle in Zimbabwe.
He said Zimbabweans would remember the enormous sacrifices that the Chinese
government made during that important period in the history of Zimbabwe. "We
remain grateful for that timely material and moral assistance as we fought for
independence and liberation," said Matshalaga. Source: Xinhua

What credentials does a hero need?

Zim Independent

Ray Matikinye VERY
few events have such stunning emotional similarities as the burial of Henry
Hamadziripi on Monday at Glen Forest Cemetery and the interment of Sheba
Tavarwisa at a remote village in rural Gutu. Both were icons of the Zimbabwe
war for national independence. Coincidentally, both came from the same rural
area and both were inexplicably denied national hero status although they
deserved burial at the national Heroes’ Acre. Both too were from the
majority Karanga tribe. Tavarwisa was the only woman ever to sit on the Zanu
Dare Rechimurenga (War Council). Hamadziripi took the credit of recruiting
the late guerilla war General Josiah Magama Tongogara, Vice-President Simon
Muzenda, and the country’s post-Independence Zimbabwe Defence Forces supremo
Vitalis Zvinavashe into the liberation war. For Mapiye Hwekete, burying
Hamadziripi away from his comrades-in-arms entombed at Heroes’ Acre most
probably evoked sad memories of his graveside eulogy at Tavarwisa’s burial some
years ago when he asked the late Vice-President Muzenda: “What unforgivable
crime did she commit not to be buried at Heroes’ Acre? And what criteria is used
by the government to award national hero status among its pioneer war veterans?”
Mapiye’s remarks could best be answered by President Mugabe’s condolence
message to the bereaved family. It set pointers to the reason why the Zanu
PF Politburo did not even bother to sit and deliberate on what status to award
as it normally does when a request is made. The timid request by the
Masvingo provincial executive pleading for provincial status, particularly
statements by Dzikamayi Mavhaire that Hamadziripi was not a card-carrying
member, provides an insight into widely-held views that national hero status is
an exclusive preserve of Zanu PF members. And for the umpteenth time,
Zimbabwe’s political mandarins have redefined all known interpretation of
heroism, expediently forgetting that all protracted liberation struggles like
the one Zimbabwe endured, generate powerful, yet potentially divisive political
reactions. Hamadziripi’s death has revived debate on what constitutes a
national hero. It begs the question whether one’s past mistakes or blunders wipe
out one’s sacrifices and achievements. Were one’s past mistakes a major
determinant of national hero status, then some of the politicians and Zanu PF
stalwarts who were incarcerated in Mozambique for non-conformist views such as
the current Police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, risk forfeiting prospects of
burial at the shrine. Hamadziripi and Tavarwisa join a long list of veteran
nationalists that hail from Masvingo province like Fibion Shoniwa, Davies
Mugabe, Michael Mawema, Samuel Munodawafa and others whose contribution towards
national Independence has failed to jolt the conscience of the politburo. If
consistency is one of the tenets considered, veteran nationalists such as James
Chikerema, Nathan Shamuyarira and clansmen stand to lose their places at the
national shrine for forming Frolizi in 1971. In sharp contrast to
consistency as the criteria, George Nyandoro was buried at the national shrine.
Together with Chikerema, Nyandoro easily identified with the origins of the
nationalist struggle in the 1950s but joined Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia regime. Apparently, only the stay-the-course Zanu PF
adherents stand to benefit. Until the Unity Agreement, Lookout Masuku lay
buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery despite the enormous popularity he enjoyed among
Zipra cadres and the immense contribution he made, giving credence to public
opinion that there is a discernible bias in the choice of heroes along ethnic
lines. Masuku’s status was posthumously re-classified. Zimbabwe was a
recipient of a Korean-built National Heroes’ Acre where heroes of the 16-year
guerilla war for national Independence are buried. And true to Norma
Kriger’s observations about national monuments, these burial places have
engendered vicious debate on who qualifies and who does not. In The Politics
of Creating National Heroes, Kriger says national monuments “expose the gap
between political rhetoric of equity, participation and unity on the one hand
and the realities of an enormous disparity between leaders and the masses (on
the other).” Instead of promoting national unity as President Mugabe has
often exhorted mourners at the national shrine to do, the choice of heroes has
tended to divide the nation over what criteria is employed to confer the honour.
A quick scan of the composition of heroes buried at the national shrine
exposes ethnic disparities in the roll of national honours. It took spirited
protests from former Zapu members to get Albert Nxele, one of the pioneer
guerrilla fighters, considered for national hero status. Some Zanu members did
not even know who he was. Political status-seeker Border Gezi, famed for
inventing the notorious Green Bombers party militia, and Chenjerai Hunzvi who
engineered the plunder of the War Victims’ Compensation Fund are eternally
rested at the shrine ahead of founder leader of Zanu Ndabaningi Sithole and the
first titular president in post-Independent Zimbabwe, the Reverend Canaan
Banana. If participation stands the dead in good stead for national hero
status, Noel Mukono dedicated most of his life to the liberation struggle. At
some point he was Zanla defence secretary. But apparently being a Manyika
spoiled his credentials, as did his remaining a Zanu (Ndonga) member. People
of no known role other than nominated Cabinet ministers have found their places
at the national shrine. People still question what role Chris Ushewokunze,
Swithun Mombeshora, and Joseph Culverwell played in the liberation struggle to
deserve national honours. Perhaps surviving members of the Dare
Rechimurenga, elected in 1973, will face an uphill task in getting their roles
recognised. In September of that year, the following were elected: Herbert
Chitepo — chairman (Manyika); Mukudzei Mudzi — administrative secretary
(Karanga); Noel Mukono — secretary for external affairs (Manyika); Kumbirai
Kangai — secretary for labour, social services and welfare (Karanga); Rugare
Gumbo — secretary for information and publicity (Karanga); John Mataure —
political commissar (Manyika); Henry Hamadziripi — secretary for finance
(Karanga); and Josiah Tongogara — chief of defence (Karanga). Perhaps too,
revelations contained in the Special International Commission on the
Assassination of Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo report, commissioned by the Zambian
government in 1976, that fingered Hamadziripi haunted him to his grave.

Zupco rot exposes parastatal graft

Zim Independent

Conrad Dube THE
unfolding story of the collapse of the once mighty Zimbabwe United Passenger
Company (Zupco) is a case study of how parastatals in Zimbabwe have been
destroyed by graft. It illustrates how political appointees have run down
parastatals by failing to comply with corporate governance principles. The
collapse of Zupco helps to explain why state companies have remained a burden on
the treasury. Taxpayers' funds have been doled out to these parastatals whose
bosses line their pockets. Zupco was not brought down by lack of capital
injection as widely claimed but by a combination of financial mismanagement and
political appointees whose business ignorance was matched only by their
venality. Confidential audit reports that have been kept under wraps for the
past two years show that there were no proper systems of either accounting or
internal controls at Zupco. The reports compiled by Kudenga & Co
Chartered Accountants for the period 2002 to 2004 reveal that about six accounts
with different banks were not recorded in Zupco's records and no bank
reconciliations were prepared for these accounts. These accounts, as evidence
shows, could have been used to siphon billions of dollars out of the company.
The accounts could have been used to "embezzle" funds, says one of the documents
seen by this newspaper. Zupco's capital deficit deteriorated to $22 billion
and it made a loss of $19 billion before tax in 2004 despite an injection of $42
billion by government. Zupco made crippling losses during deputy Information
minister Bright Matonga's reign as chief executive: $9,6 billion in 2002, $9,7
billion in 2003 and $19,3 billion in 2004. The losses were made at a time
when Zupco had increased its fleet for both rural and urban commuters through
purchases of Volvo and Isuzu buses. Transport companies usually make profits
when the fleet is still new as operating costs are low. The reports
unearthed a trial balance imbalance of $10,6 billion, which could not be
explained by top management. Too many accounts were maintained at the same
branch. There seems to be no justification for the existence of some accounts.
For instance, Zupco has two accounts at Barclays Bank Pearl House branch, three
accounts at Metropolitan Bank Belgravia, two accounts at Standard Chartered Bank
Africa Unity Square branch, and two Royal Bank Rusape accounts. Zupco
maintained bank accounts which were not supported by detailed cashbooks, the
auditors said. Schedules which were prepared for some bank accounts had serious
discrepancies which varied from $6 million to $200 million. No statements or
reconciliations were prepared for creditors and invoices for creditors' payments
could not be provided. There was no schedule of loans opening balances,
additions or payments kept throughout 2002. It was not known to whom the
long-term interest-bearing loan of $43 567 929 and long term non-interest
bearing loan of $92 188 207 were owed. There were no proper purchasing
procedures leading to the payment of people who had not supplied anything to the
company. For instance one of the reports notes that a payment of $64 million was
made to a Mrs Majoni who had not supplied anything to the company. Cash
collections from bus income were not properly accounted for and there was no
proper supervision of the work of junior staff. Many of the bank reconciliations
had errors in them indicating that no senior person had checked them. "The
filing system of the company is very poor and a lot of documents which we needed
for purposes of our audit could not be provided as they could not be found,"
Kudenga & Co revealed. Stocks of uniforms, tyres and fuel had negative
balances which management were unable to explain. There was no stock count at
year-end and recording systems were poor. No creditors reconciliations were
available at the time of the 2004 audit. Receipted amounts could not be traced
to the ledger because no posting sheets were prepared. Receipts were simply
summed up and recorded directly in the ledger, the auditors said. Employees'
PAYE amounting to $64 million was not being remitted, for instance for the whole
of 2002. This resulted in Zupco paying an extra $64 million and $30 million as
penalty and interest respectively. Matonga could not explain to the
company's board the difference of $495 million between the ledger and the
retrenchment package schedule and the auditors felt that payment might have been
made to non-existent employees. Zupco board minutes of August 20 last year
said Matonga accepted full responsibility for the anomalies highlighted in the
audit reports. The now deputy minister who was at the helm of the
government-owned passenger transporter from June 2002 to late last year failed
to control the company's finances as mismanagement took root. He was forced
to resign after his response to the damning audit reports was deemed not
comprehensive enough by the board. "From a general point of view the
financial statements are adverse and do not portray a good picture of the
organisation," the minutes said. "The increase in revenue was well below
inflation indicating a negative growth. In year 2003 the finance charges were
higher than the core costs because the instrument used to finance the debt was
inappropriate for the project." Zupco's balance sheet was in a shambles the
board noted. "There is therefore a negative shareholders balance of $10 billion.
Both capital and profits are negative," it concluded.

Another legal battle over ZABG looms

Shakeman Mugari THE Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) has failed to respond to an urgent appeal by the owners of Trust
and Royal banks to make a decision on the unlawful takeover of their banks by
the troubled Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG), setting the stage for another
legal battle. Lawyers for Trust and Royal had written to the central bank on
September 11, giving it up to Wednesday last week to stop ZABG from trading
using the defunct banks' assets. The Supreme Court in a ruling last month
said the state had taken over the banks unlawfully. Trust and Royal wanted
the Reserve Bank to force ZABG to immediately stop trading using the assets and
return them forthwith, in line with the Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court
ruled that the transfer of Trust and Royal Bank's assets to ZABG was "null and
void and of no force or effect". The ruling means that if the assets are
returned to their owners, it could suck the life out of ZABG whose shareholders
may not have the capacity to pump in the trillions needed to prevent its
imminent collapse. It would trigger a run on the bank, which would sink it.
The RBZ has however failed to respond to Trust and Royal's appeal forcing
the lawyers of the two banks to prepare for a legal battle that is likely to
start next week. The legal dogfight whose papers were still being prepared
yesterday is likely to suck in central bank governor Gideon Gono, ZABG and its
directors. Sources say the litigation would also involve Peter Bailey and
Robert McIndoe, the curators of the two banks who actively participated in the
transfer of the assets. It would also include the accounting firms of the
curators and their partners in the business. Sources say there are jitters
in the ZABG board and management who are divided on how to extricate the bank
from the crisis. A source said the ZABG board held an urgent meeting this week
to deliberate on the impending danger of losing the assets. The board, the
source said, failed to agree, with some members insisting that they stop
operating using the contentious assets until the matter was resolved. Other
board members thought ZABG should wait for a decision from the central bank.
The source said the board sought Gono's opinion on the matter but the
governor said ZABG should sort out its own problems.

War vet accuses court of 'bias'

Zim Independent

Loughty Dube A WAR
veterans leader in Matabeleland has been hauled before the courts on criminal
defamation charges after he wrote two letters to the Matabeleland North
provincial magistrate alleging that judicial officials were biased against Zanu
PF officials. The Nkayi war veterans leader, Ezra Dube, was last week
brought before Nkayi magistrate, Sikhumbuzo Nyathi, and was remanded out of
custody to November 11. The state prosecutor Sanders Sibanda told the court
that on April 25 Dube wrote a letter to Matabeleland North provincial
magistrate, John Masimba, alleging that officials at the Nkayi magistrates'
courts were biased against Zanu PF officials in the district. In the letter,
Dube picked out the senior magistrate, Thabekhulu Dube, and Maxwell Hapanyengwi,
the public prosecutor, as the officials who he claimed were always making biased
decisions against Zanu PF supporters. The state alleges that the contents of
the letter were defamatory to Thabekhulu Dube and Hapanyengwi. "The
magistrate of Nkayi, T Dube, and prosecutor Hapanyengwi are harassing war
veterans and accused persons," the letter written to Masimba says. "It is done
in two ways: War veterans and Zanu PF members are denied bail each time they
appear in court. "This is done to punish them for being their political
opponents; accused persons spend more than five hours outside the court waiting
for their cases to be heard. The two honourable gentlemen will be conducting
their own private business during that time and when they finally come more than
half the accused are remanded in custody." The letter further alleged that
the two judicial officials boasted that they would leave Nkayi when all war
veterans were behind bars and the MDC was in control. The letter further
alleged that the two are opposed to the government and should be "uprooted" from
Nkayi and Matabeleland North. This is not the first time that war veterans
have threatened members of the judiciary. At the height of the land invasions,
war veterans' leader Joseph Chinotimba stormed into Chief Justice Anthony
Gubbay's office and threatened him. Gubbay eventually resigned under
pressure from government. Some judicial officials have been physically
attacked while others have been harassed and threatened in the course of
executing their duties.

Zimplats: reading between the lines

Zim Indep.

Godfrey Marawanyika
THE recent threat by Zimplats to withdraw its investment from this country
over a tax battle with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) is a classic
example of how policy inconsistencies in government have driven away the little
investment remaining in the country, analysts say. It indicates how
government has contributed significantly toward the economic meltdown by scaring
away potential investors and frustrating those that are still operating in the
country. The Zimplats case is emblematic of how mixed messages from government
have hurt the economy by driving out investors. Ironically Zimplats is regularly
held up as an example of Zimbabwe's success in attracting direct foreign
investment. Analysts say the fight between Zimra and Zimplats shows that
despite its claims to being investor friendly, Zimbabwe has no clear investment
policy to lure offshore businesses or support those that are already here. There
are no clear regulations on tax holidays for investors who might be eager to
sink billions of dollars into the country although informal assurances have been
given by successive ministers of mines. The Zimplats case shows the policy
confusion and sends damaging signals to other investors who might have chosen
Zimbabwe for their businesses. Government had initially promised that
investors would not be penalised for investing large sums of foreign currency in
new projects in the country, especially in view of the long-term risks and
payback periods associated with projects such as Hartley Platinum inherited by
Zimplats. In Zimplats' case there is a signed agreement giving the company a
tax holiday. A “tax holiday” means that a company is exempted from paying tax
for an agreed period. It is an incentive used worldwide to lure offshore
investment. Other countries in the region like Botswana and South Africa have
used this effectively to encourage foreign investment. Zimplats had also
been promised an exemption from withholding tax on dividends, thus effectively
ensuring that the equity funding costs were not inflated to the point where
investment became unviable. The investment agreement seemed to be clear in terms
of the obligations of both parties. Under the agreement, government undertook to
give effect to its obligations by way of amending legislation where necessary.
This has not happened and Zimra has demanded that the company pays a whopping
US$16,6 million in outstanding tax. “As I am sure you will agree, this
action runs contrary to the signed agreement, and to all the assurances given by
your government to date,” said the company in its letter to the government last
week. “The effect of the unspecified action to force the company to comply with
Zimra's demands would be to shut down the operations since the costs would not
be met.” The company this week said they were not shutting down but the
contentious issue had now been referred to the Attorney General's Office for
analysis. “This is not the case,” the company said about possible closure.
“The private correspondence from Zimplats to Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development merely points out the potential effect of the revenue collection
authorities threatened actions to garnish operating bank accounts.” Minister
of Mines Amos Midzi this week said that despite the current problems pertaining
to the Zimplats agreement government was still looking at the original
agreement. “This is a very clear case and there are no problems at all,” he
said. “What should only be done is to go to the original documentary history
agreements that were agreed on,” said Midzi. “We are in the process of following
up these agreements.” Midzi said that the tax issue was in the process of
being resolved with the line ministry which in this case is the Ministry of
Finance.” “We will be talking to the Ministry of Finance on the Zimra
problems, but I cannot really say when we will have a solution. But it's
something that is being addressed urgently.” At best this illustrates how
there is no handover process when ministers change ministries. Mining
regulations have been changing with each minister. Since 2000, more than 10
mines have closed shop due to viability problems but experts in the industry
have noted that at least two of them could have been saved had it not been for
bureaucratic bungling within the government line ministries. The mining
sector accounts for 4,3% of the country's gross domestic product. In 2004,
the costs of extracting platinum in Zimbabwe shot up by 55%, making it one of
the most expensive countries in the world, a report released by London-based
GFMS said in its Platinum and Palladium 2005 survey. “Zimbabwe suffered the
sharpest rise in production costs of US$135/ounce, or 55%, following the 2004
implementation of royalty fees on mineral production and exchange controls.”
Despite the high inputs costs within the mining sector as a whole, doing
business in Zimbabwe is also considered a risky venture. Besides the country
being labelled as unsafe for business, others are concerned about the central
bank's directive that platinum miners ought to open their foreign currency
accounts locally instead of maintaining them offshore. “The government
through Zimra is flip-flopping on the policy issues,” a mining chief executive
officer said. “Are they now so desperate for hard cash that they are now
reneging on the initial agreement they signed. What sort of signal are we
sending to potential investors if rules can flip-flop just like that depending
on which minister is in charge?” The mining executive also raised concern on
the lack of clarity on the 30% empowerment stake which is meant for locals.
“Initially, we were told a 50% stake had to be reserved for locals, but then
we were told it was 30%. So which is which here? This makes planning very
difficult. “I am not really sure if it means an empowerment stake implies
one has to be aligned to the ruling party or one has to come from Mashonaland
West,” he said. “We have had people who are either related to ministers or
are from the ruling party bothering us that they have the money yet they all
seem to have one major guarantor, which is government.” In January the
central bank introduced the Enhanced Platinum Sector Regime, which resulted in
platinum being classified as a strategic mineral. The directive caused
anxiety among the platinum players in the country who were worried that they
would not be able to access their money in time for inputs. Under the
arrangement platinum miners were ordered to open four special currency accounts
with a local merchant bank which would in turn lodge the foreign currency in a
“mirror” offshore Trust Foreign Currency Account (TFCA) for the exporter, held
by the central bank. This would result in the creation of a platinum
collection foreign currency account to receive all inflows including export
proceeds, loan draw downs or equity projections. The TFCA would also have a
debt service coverage to guarantee the ability of exporters to meet foreign loan
repayment commitments of a minimum debt service cover ratio of two months as
determined from existing outstanding offshore loans. The new arrangement is
considered too cumbersome for investors who want to have easy access to their
FCAs to enable them to import equipment. Of concern also is that instead of
encouraging investment, what is boldly clear are stringent rules when one wants
to pull out of their operations in the country. Since January, investors
that wish to pull out of the country will only get their remittances paid over a
20-year period, a major policy switch from the original 72 months.

War strategies against inflation

Zim Independent

By Eric Bloch FOR
many years, almost ad nauseum , government has pledged to wage a vigorous war
against inflation. In practice however, it has only resorted to a very few — and
extremely minor — skirmishes against inflation, and intermittently sought to
quell the exceptionally virile black market, even launching the justly
internationally-condemned Operation Murambatsvina, but to virtually no avail.
Whatsoever few endeavours were made to curb the pronounced black
marketeering proved that the only effective way of ending black market
operations is to ensure that there is a sufficiency of required commodities (be
they foodstuffs, petroleum products, foreign currencies or otherwise).
Naught else will close down black markets. Any other strategies merely drive
the black market deeper underground, with commensurate price increases. The
only other substantive measure applied by government has been recurrent, totally
counterproductive, impositions of price controls. Contrary to the stated
objective of curbing inflation, the results of price controls have been
diametrically opposite. Price controls rendered production and marketing of many
products non-viable, with consequential immense shortages, opening doors wide
for black marketeers to trade at extortionate prices in such limited quantities
of the scarce products as could be sourced. In contrast to government's
endless, baseless and unfulfilled promises to end inflation, the only real drive
against ever-soaring prices was that of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ),
which resorted to stringent exchange and interest rate management, thereby
bringing inflation down from its all-time high of 623,8% (year-on-year) in
January, 2004 to 123,5% in April. But this was achieved at great cost to
exporters, whose operational viability was destroyed by the disparity in
exchange rate movement against rising operational costs. Ultimately, it became
impossible to hold down the exchange rates without causing an almost total
collapse of the export sector, whereafter inflation surged upwards once more.
In practice, inflation can only be brought under control if there is
collaboration between government, the RBZ, the private sector and labour.
But, first and foremost, government must genuinely wish to wage war on
inflation to such an extent that it is prepared to subjugate most other
political aspirations to that key objective. It needs to formulate substantive
strategies instead of spurious ones, and to implement them with determination,
irrespective of any negative repercussions upon its self-interests and those of
the individuals that constitute government, or its influential supporters.
The first measure should be a genuine and very marked reduction in
government spending. As admirable as are the intents of the Minister of Finance,
Dr Herbert Murerwa, to bring about a reduction in the size of the presently
over-blown public service, and to fund new ministries from unexpected votes of
existing ministries, that does not suffice. Government needs to reduce the
number of ministries which exceed those of most developed and enriched
countries. Those are posts which Zimbabwe cannot afford! In like manner, a
government which genuinely wishes to be responsible, which wishes to place the
populace ahead of itself, which is determined to cut expenditures instead of
increase them, would place the establishment of a Senate on the back-burner
until Zimbabwe can afford it. Further meaningful cuts could be achieved by
effecting a marked reduction of the defence forces. Why does a country at
peace with its neighbours require many thousands of soldiers, squadrons of jet
fighters, military bases proliferating the country, and a vast wealth of
ordnance. Similarly, Zimbabwe does not need the plethora of diplomatic missions
that it has around the world at unaffordable expense. Certainly, very few of its
embassies are achieving any enhancement of Zimbabwe's abysmal image
internationally. The next key action required in the war against inflation
is a genuine assault upon corruption. It is all very well that Zimbabwe now
has a Ministry of Anti-Corruption and a very recently established
Anti-Corruption Commission but, with very rare exception, Zimbabwe has turned a
blind-eye to almost all corruption for more than 25 years. A rare and very
commendable exception has been the recent prosecutions of more than 40 Zimra
officials. Those prosecutions are particularly notable because of the rarity of
real endeavours to do anything to diminish the intense corruption that
characterises both the public and private sectors of Zimbabwe. Costs of
corruption have to be recovered, and therefore are very major contributants to
inflation. The third, vitally necessary stratagem to bring inflation under
control must be to increase productivity nationwide — in the country's
parastatals, throughout commerce and industry, agriculture and in every other
economic sector. The greater the volumes of production without prejudice to
quality, the lesser the unit costs and the consequential lowering of inflation.
Attaining greater productivity requires collaboration between government and
the producers. Within parastatals, government must cease talking about
privatisation and joint ventures with private sector strategic partners, and
must turn its talk into realities. It must capitalise parastatals adequately
so that their ongoing costs do not continue to be swollen by unsustainable debt
service. Unnecessary personnel must be weeded out whilst other personnel must be
incentivised with market-related, productivity-based remuneration.
Programmes of land acquisition, resettlement and redistribution must be
restructured to ensure a real, lasting agricultural recovery. Industry,
mining and all others must be facilitated and incentivised to achieve maximum
productivity. Hand-in-hand with the productivity, competition in commerce
and industry must be encouraged, for competition motivates efficiency
enhancement and profit-reduction (per unit sold), with resultant favourable
impacts upon inflation. The greater the competition, the more each is
motivated to curb costs in order to retain and gain patronage without prejudice
to profits. A key element to bring inflation control is to achieve exchange
rate stability, as was recognised by RBZ. But that stability must be achieved
without prejudice to exporters, and the only way to bring about stable exchange
rates (other than by regulation and its concomitant negative consequences), is
to ensure that there is a sufficiency of foreign exchange to meet demand. In
the long-term that is best attained by substantial export growth and Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI), concurrently with realistic endeavours at
import-substitution. In the medium-term, international balance of payments
support is essential, but will only be forthcoming when Zimbabwe has reconciled
with the international community. That requires massive transformation,
including genuine espousal of democracy and compliance with its tenets, real
re-establishment and maintenance of law and order, unqualified respect for human
rights, irrefutably free-and-fair elections, establishment of an investment
conducive environment together with forthright actions of conciliation.
Clearly there are many other necessary strategies for a successful war on
inflation, but unless the war campaign includes draconian cuts in state
expenditure, unequivocal resolve to contain corruption, determined pursuit of
productivity and competition, and constructive measures to achieve exchange rate
stability, the war will continue to be lost.

Policy see-saws spike turnaround hopes

Zim Independent

BOTSWANA is one of Africa's success stories in the field of mining
investment. Our neighbour has not reinvented business practice to attract a
myriad of investors in its mining sector but simply exercised pragmatism and
consistency which have paid dividends. Doing business in that country is
predictable as the government has tried as much as possible not to scare away
investors by issuing acerbic statements or shifting policies. Sensible,
market-friendly policies and stable government have served Botswana well over
the years. On the economic freedom index, published by The Economist last
year, Botswana scored 2,5 where a score of 1 is “most free” and 5 “least free”.
All exchange controls have been abolished, and corporate tax is 15% (exactly
half of Zimbabwe's). With a per capita GDP of approximately US$6 600 and foreign
reserves of $6 billion, it is not surprising that both Moody's and Standard
& Poor's have upgraded Botswana's credit rating. Zimbabwe's per capita
GDP is around US$300, the country has no known forex reserves and its rankings
on the Moody's and Standard & Poor's is close to 10. It may sound
“bookish” to adopt the Botswana template but it has been proven that it works.
There is no high price to pay for the Zimbabwean government to follow suit.
Given the enormous challenges facing the economy, which include
hyperinflation, negative real interest rates, a chronic shortage of foreign
exchange and capital flight, investment in the country is high risk. It follows
that countries which are high-risk have to do more to convince investors to pour
money into greenfield projects and joint ventures. Despite Zimbabwe's more
developed infrastructure and a large skills base, to an investor with the option
to choose between coming here and going to Botswana, Zimbabwe will remain the
second choice. This has however not jolted our rulers into fashioning policy to
improve the country's competitive edge. Prudent business sense in trying to
attract investment has always been subverted by dense political dogma which
seeks to promote a bankrupt nationalism above employment-creation and poverty
reduction. The tax stand-off between government and Zimplats as reported in
this paper last week exposes the political risk that has for years scared away
investors. It further confirms international fears about business security in
Zimbabwe where policies are made on the hoof. After giving the company a tax
holiday and signing a clear agreement, the government is now shifting goal posts
by demanding that the company pays the tax. At the signing of the agreement,
the government had said it would amend the law to accommodate provisions of the
investment agreement. Whether by design or omission, this did not happen and
there is no excuse for this kind of sloppiness. Further policy see-saws have
been justified in the name of black empowerment or returning national wealth.
But this is a threadbare ruse which the world can see right through. There is no
coherent empowerment policy in place, the absence of which has promoted a policy
of patronage and asset-stripping in agriculture and manufacturing. Mining is
next. There is a belief that wealth should simply cascade from whites to
blacks notwithstanding the repercussions on the economy. These negative
politics put further weight on the country's risk factor as this mode of
empowerment is a fertile breeding ground for corruption which this country has
become notorious for. Investors will always think twice about investing money in
a country where the political/electoral system is designed or distorted to
ensure the domination of a particular party. There is more weighting on the
risk if evidence abounds of restrictions on the activity of political parties
through the creation of obstacles affecting civic society and the media. But
our government is still engrossed in the notion that because it is under
sanctions it has to come up with desperate measures to save the situation. But
desperate measures should make the situation better, not worse. There can still
be desperate measures designed to attract investment and keep those already
doing business here happy. There has been too much emphasis on the carrot
and stick mode of regulating industry. The stick has always been wielded more
often than the carrot. This is why the Zimbabwe Investment Centre has been busy
approving investment plans which are never implemented. Zimbabwe needs a
consolidated investment policy which provides would-be investors with crucial
details including tax holidays, foreign currency retention, and a transparent
empowerment policy. Laws should be amended so that they are in sync with policy
and ministers and bureaucrats must not promise investors measures that cannot be
provided under the existing legal regime. Above all, there must be
confidence that policy generally will not be changed every time a ruling
politician opens his or her mouth, that macro-economic distortions will be fully
addressed, and that the judicial system will not be suborned to serve the
interests of a party that elevates populist posturing over sound long-term
planning.

Municipal workers in showdown over wages<

Zim IndependentBR>A SHOWDOWN is
looming between council officials and the Harare Municipal Workers Union over
salary negotiations, with the union demanding a minimum wage of $6,1 million for
its members. Negotiations have reached a deadlock with the cash-short local
authority arguing that it cannot afford the increase demanded while the union
says its workers are failing to make ends meet owing to escalating costs of
basic commodities and increases in transport fares. "We are deadlocked but
we hope the stalemate will not force workers to go on strike and inconvenience
ratepayers," chairman of the union, Cosmas Bungu, said on Wednesday.
Municipal work is considered an essential service and employees are barred
from work boycotts. Bungu said a number of municipal workers were losing
their household property to money lenders due to low salaries in the midst of
escalating costs for basic commodities and food. "People are hungry and have
to borrow to make ends meet. They become so indebted after borrowing for food,
school fees and bus fares that money lenders haunt them everyday," the union
chief said. He said his union had agreed with the employer to take the
matter up with the arbitration centre for a determination. The meeting is
scheduled for Monday. The showdown between Harare city council and municipal
workers comes at a time when the commission running the city is looking for
US$27 000 ($702 million) for a trip by commission chair, Sekesai Makwavarara, to
Moscow. Makwavarara's costly junket is planned when the city has almost run
dry of fuel for trucks to remove mounting garbage from the streets. Council
cannot attend to burst water pipes. Neither can it provide adequate water
supplies to residents forcing some suburbs to forego water supplies for weeks
Movement for Democratic Change MP for Harare North, Trudy Stevenson, advised
the mayor of Moscow, Juri Michailowitsch Luschkow, not to entertain Makwavarara
saying her delegation does not have the mandate of the city residents. - Staff
Writer.

Zimind satellite dish saga drags on

Zim Independent

Itai Mushekwe

IN what appears to be a political move to thwart the business growth of
the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard newspapers, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
(Zimra) has for the past six months kept under lock and key a satellite dish and
accessories belonging to the group at its container depot in Beitbridge.
Zimra is demanding that the equipment must first be licensed before it is
released. The equipment does not require licensing since it is used to receive
news, not to transmit it. The move came after suspicion by government that
the papers wanted to use the satellite dish - provided by Reuters for
newsgathering purposes - to broadcast footage of the March parliamentary
election to the international community. The saga took a new twist this
month following evidence of the involvement of the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) in the continued seizure of the equipment. A letter dated
September 24 written by Zimra regional controller, Eric Maguranyanga, to the
manager of Big Star Cargo Services, tasked with clearing the equipment, reveals
the involvement. The letter states that Zimind publishers should get a
licence from the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe
(Potraz) before the release of the equipment. "You are therefore required to
make an application for a registration licence from Potraz for the issuance of
the licence. A copy of your application should be sent to the President's
Office, PO Box 2373, Harare." Under Zimbabwe's legislation no law requires a
licence to import a "receive only" dish. The satellite dish can only receive
stories and pictures but has no capacity to transmit. Potraz is mandated to
regulate and license the telecommunications sector and therefore does not
ordinarily have jurisdiction over broadcasting licence issues. The
involvement of the President's Office, which houses the CIO, raises questions as
to who is pulling the Zimra levers. Initially Zimra had told the newspaper
group to apply for a licence with Tel*One. It then told the group to apply for
another licence from the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ). The company
proceeded to apply for a letter of exemption with respect to its confiscated
equipment on August 17. BAZ granted leave for the receiver to be released
but to no avail. According to the group chief executive, Raphael Khumalo,
correspondence was sent to Potraz in March seeking assistance to have the seized
"receive only" antennae and ancillary equipment released. Potraz responded
by asking for the release of the dish in a letter to Zimra dated April 6, to
enable them to carry out examination of the equipment before issuing Zimind
Publishers the relevant licence. Their request fell on deaf ears as Zimra
continued to hold the equipment. Earlier this month Zimra appeared ready to
release the equipment. Big Star cargo services confirmed that the satellite
equipment was ready for delivery, but Zimra made a U-turn at the eleventh hour
by keeping the dish in its custody following orders from one Chihuri, who is
based at Zimra's Intermarket Towers. Chihuri reportedly instructed Zimra's Mr
Maguranyanga not to let go of the satellite receiver. Efforts to get comment
from Chihuri yesterday proved fruitless as he was said to be out of town on
business. Khumalo said that the continued holding of the equipment had
prejudiced the operations of the Independent and the Standard as the two papers
were unable to provide their readers and advertisers with good quality
international news and pictures. Reuters manager in charge of media accounts
in Africa, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, yesterday confirmed from South Africa that
newspaper organistions in Zimbabwe including the Financial Gazette and Zimbabwe
Newspapers Group had the satellite receiver equipment including 26 other
institutions. "Modus publications and Zimbabwe Newspapers have the dish,"
said Muhutu-Remy.

Gasela quashes new 'proof' in poll case

Zim Independent

Loughty Dube
THE lawyer representing losing MDC Gweru rural candidate, Renson Gasela, in
his electoral petition last week quashed attempts by the defence lawyer to
introduce, during cross examination, a letter that was not on the original
opposing papers. The letter states that the Zanu PF candidate in the area,
Josphat Madubeko, resigned his traditional duties before the 2005 parliamentary
election. Gasela's lawyer Nicholas Mathonsi told Justice Maphios Cheda, the
presiding Electoral Court judge in the case, that it was unprocedural for the
defence to introduce during cross-examination documents that were not in the
original opposing papers. Martin Makonese of Makonese & Partners,
representing Madubeko, had quizzed Gasela on his knowledge of a letter written
by the traditional chief for the area confirming that Madubeko had relinquished
his duties as Headman Sadza. Gasela alleged that the letter in question was
a post facto letter written by the chief to suit the situation. Gasela alleged
that the fact that the letter was addressed "to whomsoever it may concern"
indicated that it was not directed at the issue in question. Gasela further
claimed that the letter, copied to the District Administrator and the Ministry
of Local Government, was not authentic and alleged that if it was then Madubeko
would have attached it to his original nomination papers to show that he had
indeed relinquished his traditional post.

Influence peddling real

Zim Independent

By David Mutambara THERE is a
raging debate in the media about issues of corporate governance such as
influence peddling, conflict of interest, corruption, and too much regulation
breeding corruption and black or white managers as a front. This debate is real.
Influence peddling occurs when a powerful member of society exerts political
pressure for favours to be advanced to other parties. This is usually on the
basis of "who you know" rather than "what you know". Sometimes this involves the
use of membership to the same church, party or any such grouping to gain
financial and other favours for your business. I have no doubt in my mind
that I am not necessarily saying one cannot perform work for your political
party or church. No, not at all. What I am saying is that if this is done, this
should be above board. There is need for clear policies and regulations of
this practice. A director of a company, if he is to perform private work for the
organisation that he sits on the board, should do so with a clear understanding
of the risks involved. Will the rest of the stakeholders not raise eyebrows
when murky details emerge? In the absence of the guidelines and policies
regulating such conduct, usually the details emerge from staff and other
embittered tender losers. It is usually embellished. Sometimes the exercise
of influence peddling could be a lot subtler. Powerful people in government
and private sector employ their spouses and relatives to run their private
businesses, which in turn purport to provide goods and services to the same
organisation where their more powerful relatives are employed. We should not
be too hasty to say it is wrong, but in the absence of good governance systems
and regulations, this is subject to interpretation in widely different ways by
staff and the wider community. The company then runs the risk of being
interpreted as practising poor corporate governance. If staff can buy
products at a discounted price this must be clearly stated in policy. If
politicians can access the same products at a discount, then why not just state
this and let every one know of this position, preferably in print? For a CEO
or senior manager to help himself to the "waste material" every other week,
helps himself to company trucks to attend his numerous funerals every week, then
he is guilty of influence peddling and abuse of authority. What will happen
is that staff members will also begin to agitate for the same favours, week
after week. The same CEO will be forced to give in to some staff demands and to
refuse some other demands. This can then create a vicious circle of staff
conflict and poor industrial relations in the company. Organisations get
around this by asking their potential and current directors to come clean and
declare their assets before they join the board. Sometimes they are asked to
recuse themselves in discussions concerning companies they have interests in,
such as a shareholding interest. The truth is that directors will sometimes
conceal this conflict of interest. After all, revealing that you know the
director of that bidder, who happens to be your wife or brother in financial
distress, might mean loss of the tender. Hence unscrupulous directors keep
mum over their conflict of interest. Some amongst us will view this as
idealistic viewpoints that have no place in this cutthroat, dog- eat-dog society
we live in. Everybody is doing it. Why not me? But this is the cancer that
eats into our society, if it goes unchecked. There will probably be no
individual that will be able to remain squeaky clean in this environment. I know
that. Hence it is precisely for this reason that there is need for proper
policies and regulations to help mankind manage their inclinations towards being
dirty and unscrupulous. Corruption cannot be eliminated, but can be contained
with proper checks and balances. But then again, too much regulation usually
breeds petty officials and hence corruption. * For comments and feedback,
please email or phone Edwin Kondo atldc@ecoweb.co.zw or 301985/8. An incisive
look at the two evils Zesa Holdings an unnecessary burden The North
Korean 'crisis' that never was Hamadziripi snubbed but no less hero
Influence peddling real

An incisive look at the two evils

Zim INdependent

By Rejoice Ngwenya
THE jury is back and its verdict - Ian Douglas Smith was "better than"
Robert Gabriel Mugabe - has been grudgingly embraced. At face value, it
seems naively cruel that a man who caused untold misery, displacement and death
can be associated with a whiff of sentimental attachment. I mean this man,
Smith, was vicious. Once he set his Rhodesian Ridgebacks on you, boy, the human
animals would not let go until you dangled at zero gravity, waist-deep in a pool
of blood. Those homo sapiens canines would spurt racial poison into your
system until your body and soul went numb and lifeless, dehydrated with emotion.
Their ultimate context of "victory" would be to attach a "kaffir" label on your
big left toe before you were exiled into a cold room of political isolation.
That is how I perceived Smith. I suppose President Mugabe and his
comrades-in-arms share the same chilling memories. And yet most reasonably
objective Zimbabweans now insist that amidst the whirlpool of racial
humiliation, political bigotry and ideological dogma characteristic of Rhodesian
life, Smith exhibited a semblance of organisational sanity even in the face of
local and international adversity. The Rhodesian system of governance, in
retrospect, prevailed over crippling sanctions and global isolation. Faced with
the same scenario, Mugabe's mode of governance has crumbled, as Jimi Hendrix put
it, "like a castle made of sand". Whereas the irony is that in the midst of
real economic and infrastructural sabotage - destruction of bridges, fuel
depots, railway lines and the downing of Viscounts - the Smith juggernaut
remained functional. I cannot say the same of Mugabe's imaginary context of
sabotage in the form of devaluation and legitimate political opposition -
child's play compared to the thunder and smoke that the Zipra and Zanla forces
inflicted on the Rhodesian infrastructure. Even then, it was in the sixties
and seventies that Rhodesia continued to produce the best in teachers, nurses,
railway men, farmers, and businessmen. Hospitals, clinics, dip tanks,
colleges, councils and supermarkets never ran out of provisions. If you had
petrol coupons, you would actually get petrol - even in local currency. If
you decided to study, you would walk into any bookshop or library and got all
the textbooks required. Try visiting council libraries today! The Rhodesian
dollar was just a delight, sustaining large families up to the "32nd day" of
each month. But for all the good works that Mugabe and his late comrade-in-arms
Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo are credited with, their noble intentions seem to be a
stale (not pale) shadow in the face of the harsh realities confronting
modern-day Zimbabwe. In all the conceivable departments that have a
cumulative context of "governance", Smith does seem, after all, to have had a
slight edge. I do not want to bore you with comparative chronicles of his
excesses, but I will certainly raise teasers as future reference for debates in
commuter omni-buses, bars, churches, colleges and parks. As my queue friends
always say: "Taiti zvichaoma, asi izvi hatina kana kumbozvifungira (We thought
life was going to be tough, but not to this extent)." Therefore, my
interpretation of the statement "Smith was better than Mugabe" will be based on
what can be rhetorically termed "access to good living". Now I know that
Rhodesia's racial deprivation, compared to Zimbabwe's starvation, long queues,
homelessness and a suffocating cost of living, is like child's play.
Millions of angry Zimbabweans in urban and rural areas would actually like
to shout: "Smith anga arinani zvake! (Smith was a lot better)" but fear for
their miserable lives. I am merely a mouthpiece, and in our African
tradition, you do not shoot the messenger, the difference being some messengers
have a bit of a brain, which means they have a capacity to fight back when
needlessly provoked. As they say in civilised countries; do be a sport,
dear, and accept your weaknesses. Of course you may accuse the Rhodesian
sentimentalists of having a short memory. Don't politicians have that problem
too? I suppose you do remember guys like Dumiso Dabengwa and John Nkomo who
were humiliated and slandered by Zanu PF in the 80's. Some of their colleagues
like Lookout Masuku and Major Grey perished in prison after the liberation
struggle, but on which side of the fence are their surviving colleagues now?
On the side that provides the most crisp, shiny bearer's cheques! I was
in Zimbabwe when 20 000 amaNdebele were annihilated - not by Smith - but by the
Zanu PF-inspired, North Korean-trained Gukurahundi. So don't you ever, ever
lecture me on short memories! The facts are there for all to see and as you
read, draw your own subjective conclusions without assigning any specific
viewpoint to the author. In Rhodesia, opposition politics was
"constitutionally" banned, which means you could not talk freely about Zapu and
Zanu without attracting the wrath of the law. There was no comparative
debate on political ideology either on television or radio, and besides, the
government had the upper hand in abusing the state machinery to fulfil its
mandate of suppressing public opinion. Public political meetings were a
no-go area and the British South Africa Police (BSAP) had the right to displace,
violently, any "unauthorised" gatherings. And yet it is in that very Rhodesia
that Zanu PF blossomed into one of the strongest political forces in the region,
with tactical and logistical support from Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania and
Mozambique. All the while, we continued to go to school both at home and
overseas without visas. You could walk into any bank and buy foreign
currency without having to produce your grandfather's first payslip! And the
social life . damn! I fondly remember the lush green football fields of
Nguboyenja when we used to spend weekends watching "Bafa" soccer and then "sink"
the day at the nearby Happy Valley. Those were the moments of glory of Eye
of Liberty, Gipsy Caravan, and Wells Fargo. and pretty student nurses from Mpilo
Hospital. Back then, the Zephyr 6, Alfa Romeo and BMW Cheetahs ruled the
roost. Super models like Philip Zwambila and Stephen Campion would contest
for the best girls at BG Hall with sporting heroes like Tymon Mabaleka, Majuta
Mpofu and boxer Ringo Starr while we, mere mortals, lustfully gazed in awe.
If you were bored with pub copyrights, you would while up time and listen to
Luke Mkandla on Radio Mthwakazi or slide the dial to RBC's Jay-Cee-Jay show, if
not "LM radio, just for music". Back then, you were nothing if you didn't
boast of a flared "Revolution" trousers and platform Roberto shoes. We used to
term the combination "mother don't sweep!" If you could not recite a few
lines of Doobie Grey and Jimi Cliff's music, which woman would want to accompany
you to Bulawayo Service Station? The Afro hairstyle was ugh! talk of the
town. Our heroes from yonder - Lionel Peterson, Percy Sledge, Jimi Hendrix et al
- left a legacy of psychedelic dress code that sent shivers down the spine of
our ultra conservative Christian parents. Earlier in life kwaNhema, I
remember big boys like political activists Patrick Mandikate and McClay
Kanyangarara from the "immortal" Fletcher High School setting the trend in true
"Beatle-speak" - a type of English that appeared only inside sleeve jackets of
vinyl records from overseas. The Beatles, Elton John and the Kiki Dee Band;
Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Nazareth, Queen and Bob Geldof
and his Boomtown Rats were the real "mark of the beast". For me, the sweet
Motown soul of the Jackson Five, Diana Ross, Temptations, Gladys Knight and the
other heroes of Afro-American beat is an irreplaceable part of my Rhodesian
life. Now you tell me, can Mugabe's Zimbabwe offer me that type of life in
exchange for my vote in 1980? Judge for yourself. * Rejoice Ngwenya is a
Harare-based writer.

Calculated confusion

Zim Independent

By Vincent Kahiya LAST week I
asked in this column if there was anything called deliberate inefficiency. There
is. The Zimbabwe Independent and its sister paper the Standard have become
victims of this constructive inefficiency - when state apparatus deliberately
function in a confused manner to thwart companies from doing business. We
have watched in awe as bureaucrats perform their discordant tune. They have
made awkward decisions, reversed them, appeared to be understanding and then
fallen into fits of confusion again, in the end making no real decision. We are
now where we were in March. These guys are perfectionists in this art. As
Shakespeare would say, they are "wise enough to play the fool". This Comedy
of Errors stars the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), a body whose mission
statement claims the tax collector's job is "to facilitate economic development,
trade and travel, revenue generation and collection, to enforce regulatory
controls with integrity, transparency and fairness".Before reverting to the
issue of "integrity, transparency and fairness", let me introduce the other main
character - the Office of the President. In another story in this edition we
highlight our six-month ordeal to get a Reuters satellite dish and ancillary
equipment installed at our office. This is basic equipment installed by the news
agency to enable it to sell news, pictures and graphics to media houses. These
are the stories we run on our international pages. All mainstream media in
Zimbabwe have this facility together with financial institutions and other large
corporates. We have had this equipment since 1996 and last year Reuters
informed us that it was upgrading, hence we were getting new equipment. But
constructive inefficiency was rolled onto the scene to ensure the equipment did
not get to us. When the goods were seized our information was that the CIO
had issued the instruction. A receipt of goods seized from Zimra however said
the goods had been held pending issuance of a licence by Tel*One. My foot! I
queried this with a Zimra officer at Beitbridge who admitted they had made a
mistake. No apology was given. Remember "integrity, transparency and fairness"?
Tel*One is not in the business of issuing licences to news terminals. The
authorities in August then came up with another excuse. This time we were
referred to the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe where Herald Editor Pikirayi
Deketeke is acting chair. We duly wrote to them explaining our fate. BAZ
rightly wrote to Zimra to say they do not deal with those issues. I am sure
Pikirayi was surprised by our request for a licence since (I bet my bottom
dollar) this has never arisen with regard to similar equipment in his newsroom.
Do I remember Zimra boss Gershem Pasi talking of diligence not so long ago?
Then our hopes were raised. We thought we had got past another bureaucratic
hurdle. Zimra officials got in touch with the clearing agent who was handling
the shipment to pay for demurrage and collect the goods. The amount of $22
million was paid and all that was left was to collect the equipment from
Beitbridge. I expected the equipment to be installed last weekend but had not
counted on further deliberate inefficiency from the system. Zimra had
suddenly realised after six months that it had experts who could examine the
equipment to determine if it required licensing. All along we were hearing
reports of the CIO issuing orders that the equipment must not be released.
Last week the Zimra experts were suddenly scrambled and their ruling was
that we should now apply for a licence from the Post and Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority (Potraz). But we had been to Potraz before. In March
correspondence was sent to Portraz seeking assistance to have the equipment
released. Potraz in April wrote to Zimra to release the equipment into their
custody to enable them to carry out examination to determine if a licence should
be issued. The equipment was never released to Potraz. Potraz is now back in
the picture but the catch is that a copy of the application should be copied to
the Office of the President, an undisguised admission by Zimra as to who
controls the levers. If the policy is going to be applied consistently,
everyone who has that equipment, and is not licensed, has to switch it off and
apply for a licence from Potraz. This is a new role for Potraz which we have not
heard about before. The application is being prepared and a copy will be
handed over to the President's Office where the final decision is likely to be
made. But there is now no guarantee that the application will result in us
getting the equipment. Firstly, we were told to go to Tel*One, then Potraz
and BAZ and now back to Potraz. What can stop the authorities from further
complicating the issue by bringing the Media and Information Commission, for
example, into the mangle? I know we are not the only victims of calculated
confusion of this sort. Large corporates and investors wanting to do business in
Zimbabwe are given this kind of run-around. Last week we reported threats by
platinum miner Zimplats to cease operations over a tax dispute - a product of
state blundering. The interest of the Office of the President in this issue
is not surprising given the anti-business and anti-media attitude of those
around President Mugabe who feed on all sorts of silly conspiracy theories. At
first they thought our satellite dish was for transmitting! But can Zimra come
clean and tell us that the issue of the seized equipment is beyond its control.
Integrity, transparency and fairness. Big words indeed but like so many
other mission statements - meaningless. Calculated confusion

Zim footballers 8 — 0 UK immigration

Zim Independent

WE loved the howls of outrage in the government media over the
defection of Zimbabwean footballers to the UK. This is the sort of thing that
used to happen to Cuba and Romania. But now, the only iron curtain left is
the one Patrick Chinamasa is attempting to erect around Zimbabwe. But it doesn't
seem very effective in keeping Zimbabweans in. The errant soccer players
from Caps United and Highlanders were “coerced into staying” in Britain by
Zimbabwean asylum-seekers already based there, the Sunday Mail told us. The
defectors include two members of the Zimbabwe national team, David Sengu and
Raymond Undi. Sengu is reported to have sold his car before he went on the trip.
PSL fixtures secretary Godfrey Japajapa who travelled with the two teams
suggested “big-time politics” were at play. The players failed to recognise they
were being used as “tools” by asylum-seekers, he claimed. They showed “a
shameful lack of respect for the reputation of Zimbabwean football”, he said.
Their defection will confirm the impression that all was not well in
Zimbabwe and thus aid the case for other asylum-seekers, he explained.
Japajapa was himself approached by an asylum-seeker in a pub and invited to
stay. “I just laughed and asked him to buy me a beer instead,” Japajapa
replied. But alas, his seductor could not stand the two-pounds-fifty round
despite promising to “take good care” of the PSL official who ended up having to
put his hand in his pocket for them both. The Zimbabwean footballers are in
good company, according to The Times . Last year nine members of the Afghan
national football team disappeared in Italy before a match to celebrate the fall
of the Taliban. In 2003 five players from a women's cricket team from India
vanished three days into a tour of Britain. The same year the captain and two
other members of the Sri Lankan women's cricket team went missing during a
stopover in London after a tour of the West Indies At the Commonwealth Games
in Manchester in 2002, 21 athletes from Sierra Leone disappeared. Of 58 players
from Nigeria and Ghana granted visas for the 2002 Open golf championship, only
five set foot on the course. But despite national indignation over the
defections, Zimbabwe is unlikely to match Ethiopia's record. The entire
Ethiopian soccer team disappeared in Rome in 1998 while en route to an
international and were never heard of again.

Last week Muckraker
drew attention to deputy Information minister Bright Matonga's remarks about
Morgan Tsvangirai's walk into the city from his Strathaven home. Matonga claimed
Tsvangirai had cheated by catching a lift. “He walked only a short distance
for photographs before boarding his red fuel-guzzling truck,” Matonga told the
Herald's Caesar Zvayi. “And we all saw him arriving in it at 11.30 on Friday
morning (September 16).” It quickly transpired that Matonga's version of
events was untrue. Foreign correspondents, cited by Zvayi as witnesses, told
this paper that Tsvangirai had walked all the way and that there was no sign of
his red vehicle. There were numerous other witnesses. It is a very serious
matter when a minister misleads a journalist but that, some would argue, is in
the nature of politics. When a journalist from the independent press misreports
an event, it is called a falsehood and he is charged under Aippa. In this
case we had the Herald's political editor, who had every opportunity to check
his facts, swallowing the minister's spin, hook, line and sinker. Could he
please explain why he repeated Matonga's claims without checking with any of the
people he cited as witnesses? Tsvangirai arrived at Harvest House on foot at
8.15am. He was interviewed by Reuter TV shortly afterwards. The state media
would have had access to this evidence. Could the editor of the Herald
explain why such distortions are regarded as acceptable professional conduct at
his paper?

Last Saturday Zvayi interviewed Patrick Chinamasa and
asked him about exit visas “which we are reading about in the western media”.
Never heard of them said Chinamasa. “I have never heard of exit visas
and I have no clue as to how such documents would operate,” he said, adding
“there is no intention on our part to introduce things we do not understand.”
That's strange. The Ministry of Home Affairs has been running an exit visa
system for some years. All permanent residents are required to obtain an exit
visa before travelling out of the country. Is Chinamasa unaware of this? Is
he not on speaking terms with his colleague, the Minister of Home Affairs?
The UN news agency Irin reported two weeks ago that Chinamasa had told them
his officials would be liaising with officials from Foreign Affairs to see how
an exit visa system could be introduced. He later told VoA there was no
intention to introduce such a scheme. Irin could have misunderstood him. But
government policy, as on the IMF issue, is as clear as mud.

President Mugabe told a journalist who interviewed him recently that
he had never met Tony Blair before. “We'd never met…” he told Israeli
journalist Daphne Barak referring to the Rome incident when Blair hurriedly
vacated his seat next to Mugabe. It transpired the two men had met at
Gleneagles on the fringe of the Edinburgh Chogm in 1997. That is all a matter of
public record. Zimbabwean politicians are being allowed to get away with
whoppers by a supine official press whose journalists either do not know the
facts or — more likely — do not care. And taxpayers have to support a dubious
regulatory body that also appears not to care when the truth is mangled in the
political mix. Instead it contents itself with officious interference in the
business of the independent press. Muckraker's question is this: how can the
MIC, appointed by the Ministry of Information, take to task officials of that
ministry when they feed deliberate falsehoods to the official press or
journalists who repeat those falsehoods as fact?

Muckraker was
excited to read last Sunday that anybody visiting the premises of the Southern
Times and wishing them Happy Birthday would not leave empty-handed. This was in
regard to the state-sponsored paper's first birthday. But just as we were
about to rush down to collect our reward for ploughing through the acres of
mind-numbingly bland text, we read on to discover that our prize was merely a
“pledge of commitment”, whatever that is. The editor, Moses Magadza, spoke
of the paper's “birth pangs” which apparently continued well after birth. These
included “negative publicity”. But Moses had an appropriate way of
countering that. The paper would just lift its leg against such obstacles.
“We learnt to crawl, to stand and to lift just the one leg against the
background of that negative publicity,” he doggedly declared. But don't
expect any “defensive verbosity or counter-offensive vitriol”. Instead there
would be just “good old-fashioned veracity”. “As the French would say: La
verite, et rien mais la verite. ” We haven't heard the French say that for a
long-time Moses! But anyway, good luck to you and your team at the Southern
Times . Muckraker's advice: avoid unfortunate double page cross-heads such as
“SA grabs first farm. Terror comes to Africa”. Speaking of which, now that
the courts have been removed from hearing challenges to land grabs, what are
farmers expected to do when they are assaulted by people claiming to be from the
Office of the President and demanding they hand over their property, as reported
last weekend? Are the courts forbidden to hear applications for protection
against willful assault and confiscation of property on the grounds these are
land-related? By the way, could the police please tell us what has happened to
Joseph Mwale and why he has not been apprehended?

Muckraker had a
good chuckle over the Herald headline “Annan forced to abort visit”. The story
claimed the UN secretary-general had been forced to cancel his visit to assess
Zimbabwe's clean-up after the US and UK had “politicised” the trip. In fact, he
was never coming in the first place. Mugabe had told Annan in New York that
he objected to Britain and America setting the agenda for the trip. “When I
extended the invitation to you, it was meant to correct yourself in respect of
the unbalanced and misleading report from Mrs Tibaijuka,” officials quoted
Mugabe as having told Annan. What the officials didn't say was that Mugabe
had deluded himself in the first place. Annan does not believe that Tibaijuka's
report was anything other than accurate. And he certainly won't second-guess his
housing specialist after her exhaustive study here. He wasn't going to come and
pretend everything was rosy when it manifestly wasn't. That was all made
clear to Mugabe weeks ago. Annan's spokesmen have been absolutely consistent
that Mugabe must address the problems raised in the report before their boss
will even consider coming here. It was the Zimbabwean side that raised the
issue of Senate elections and the so-called National People's Conference in
December as impacting on the time-frame of any visit. Is that not political? As
for the silly claim that NGOs are political, so is Zanu PF. Everything is
political today because Mugabe has made it so. The last thing we want is
having chiefs and headmen decide who gets what. And don't we recall Mugabe
naming maize handouts after himself the last time donors came to the rescue?
That was non-political we suppose! And by the way, holding a leopard's skin
after a military shooting competition is hardly the best advert for conservation
and tourism. What did this poor animal do to deserve such a fate? Own a farm?

We enjoyed the M&G's Madam & Eve column last week which
featured Robert Mugabe as the celebrity chef. Instead of the “Naked Chef”
familiar to viewers of BBC Food, this celebrity chef was called the Naked
Despot. We particularly liked the chef's hat. Asked by the presenter what he
would be cooking up for viewers, he replied: “Well I thought we'd start with
potato soup, and potato pancakes…followed by potato gratin à la Mugabe, potato
salad…and finally potato pudding.”